Buried treasure

Unearthed time capsule holds campers' memories

The words "From One Generation to Another" marked the site where summer campers at the Samuel M. & Helene Soref JCC in Plantation buried a time capsule 10 years ago.

One day last week campers, counselors and visitors waited eagerly —like archeologists anticipating a significant find of evidence of life in an earlier age — for the plastic storage container filled with camp photographs, children's messages, t-shirts and other memorabilia to be unearthed.

"These are memories, things I wouldn't remember otherwise," said Matthew Sorkin, 22, of Weston, a travel camp counselor for 6th through 9th graders who was a 12-year-old camper when the time capsule was buried.

The opportunity to relive memories also brought Allan Altschuler, 21, of Plantation back to the place where he spent so much time as a child.

"I've been here since I was 18 months old," Altschuler said. "I grew up here. This is my second home." He said he went to day school on the Soref campus and was a summer camp counselor for six years. Today, he said, he came "to relive the childhood."

Lilli Sachs, 13, of Cooper City was two years old when the box was buried but the camper said she remembered that day. "My group put in a picture," Sachs said.

Camper Rachel Hersey, 13, of Davie couldn't remember what was put in the time capsule a decade earlier but she was anxious to see its contents.

The years pass quickly for adults, said Rachel's mother Lori Hersey, but for a child, "10 years is their whole life."

After more than a half hour of digging, the box was lifted from a wide hole in the ground to cheers from the now small crowd.

"Oh my God, you need to open that up," one girl exclaimed.

The group moved into an air conditioned auditorium filled with several hundred campers of all ages to wait for the container to be opened.

And then the top was lifted from the plastic box.

"Wow, this is old. This is so old," Sorkin, said. "These are memories, things I wouldn't remember otherwise."

Plastic bags containing children's paintings, individual and group camp photographs and t-shirts were pulled from the box.

And this.

A sheet of pink construction paper about two feet long with a message from The Pretty Princess Group 11. "This summer is the best. Better than all the rest," it began.

And there were words of love for Bonnie who, one girl remembered, worked at the front desk in the early childhood center. "She died two years ago," the girl said.

Bonnie Alicea, the pre-school's administrative assistant for 23 years, was "much beloved" by children, teachers and parents, said Judy Kissel, director of the summer camp and Jacob Brodzki Early Childhood Center.